In a year filled with tragedy, Lamb's video offered six minutes of delight.

But, along with fun and fame, the media storm was sometimes overwhelming and disturbing, Lamb says.

And it's not over.

On Thursday, the Portland actor and his fiance, Amy Frankel, a choreographer and nursing student, return to NBC's "Today" show to recap their whirlwind year. And no, they don't plan to get married just yet.

Let's review: In May, Lamb, 32 gathered 60 family members and, after one rehearsal, made a video proposal to Frankel, 34. To keep the surprise element, his brother put her in the open back of a Honda CRV and gave her headphones. She thought she was going to hear a song.

She got one, all right.

As she dutifully sat there, legs dangling out the back, the car crept down a residential street. Two friends appeared and she thought, "How sweet, they're going to do a show for me." The car kept moving while a growing street party of singing, dancing, arm-waving parents, actors, marching-band friends and absent family gathered.

When she heard the words of Bruno Mars' pop tune, "Marry You," she knew what was up. At the end, everyone parted and there was Lamb, handsomely suited, getting down on bended knee.

Throughout the video, a camera shows Frankel's reaction, laughing hugging herself and all but falling out of the car.

Within days, millions had watched it and the couple received invitations to appear on "Today" "Good Morning America" and the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The storm was just getting started.

Reality TV shows called, asking them to get married on their shows. Companies wanted to livestream their vows. They offered money. Japan and Germany were the most persistent, Lamb says. Two weeks ago, Der Spiegel, the German magazine, ran a big spread on its website and another German company offered to fly them over for an appearance. They turned it down because Frankel was in the middle of finals for nursing school.

The frenzy was not always fun, says Lamb, who quickly spotted media attempts to make a buck.

"Instead of recognizing the moment was special, and the creative impulse behind it, they wanted to capitalize on this really famous thing right now. It's missing the point -- I'm really in love with Amy. The proposal was a genuine human moment that came in a year when there were some genuine moments that were awful. I think that's why it became popular."

Naively, they thought they would plan their wedding this year and have the ceremony next summer. But, she's in classes and clinics up to 10 hours a day and they're not even browsing brides magazines. She graduates in August, so they're planning a summer wedding for 2014, he says.

Lamb, who is also a filmmaker who has idolized Stephen Spielberg since he was 20, says he didn't make the video to become famous. He made it out of love and creativity.

"As artists, being famous is not something we're opposed to, but all year, I wanted to be careful between people trying to capitalize on it and people genuinely interested in what we could contribute artistically, in a human way."

"Before all this happened, I could watch a reality show and ask, 'Why would you ever do that?' Now, I can see how easy it is to get swept up in it. Most people assume you want to be famous, but the challenge is to keep control of our lives."